Padfoot and Potions
by Dragongrrl7
Summary: Drabble. Sirius tries to get James to give Lily a love potion. Confusion ensues.


"Dude, just do it."

"Absolutely not, Padfoot, you asshole!" James chucked the pink bottle at Sirius's head. "Yeah, I want her to love me pretty fucking bad, but I'm not going to _drug _her into it!"

Sirius snorted. "Your loss. Love potions don't last forever. You might get a kiss."

"Yeah, and afterwards she'd hate me forever!"

"She hates you anyway," Sirius chuckled.

James sprang at him, yelling, and the conversation became a flat-out fistfight. The Gryffindors in the common room circled them, clapping and shouting, until James emerged victorious but with a rapidly blackening eye. He stood up abruptly and strode out of the room.

The next morning at breakfast, James sat a little ways away from Sirius, sulking. Remus, who was friends with Lily, was sitting across from her, and Sirius had somehow managed to sit next to him. He saw James looking and waggled his eyebrows, and James saw a flash of bright pink in his hand. _No! _He cried out silently, but no sound escaped his throat, and he watched, helpless, as Sirius reached out over Lily's pumpkin juice. Shortly after breakfast Sirius was sent to the hospital wing.

Lily and James had Transfiguration together, and Professor McGonagall assigned them to work together, which on any other day would've made James ecstatic. That particular day, he sat silently, grunting affirmation or disagreement whenever Lily asked him a question.

She dropped her quill and bent to pick it up, and brushed against him rather a lot as she did it. James stared fixedly ahead as she turned to him. "I just can't seem to get this combination right. Could you show me?" She—_oh, Merlin—_placed her hand on his arm and looked up at him plaintively.

_She's sodding flirting with me. After all this time. I could murder Padfoot right now. _He nodded. "Yeah, erm. Okay."

The rest of the class was full of similar touches, subtle but unusual, and Lily was attentive to him in a way she never had been before. At the end of the class, James tried to hurry out, but she caught up to him. "Hey! Can I talk to you?"

"Um, I've got to go. I'm sorry."

Lily snorted. "Every other damn day of the year you're dying to talk to me, Potter."

"Well, yes, I know, I just—"

"_Shhhh." _

James shut up.  
"Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?"

_Fuck. _"I can't. I'm sorry."

"What?!" Her eyes opened wide with shock. "I mean. I'm sorry. That's very entitled of me. I just assumed—you've always seemed to have taken an interest—"

"I know. I have. I just can't. I can't do it, Lily."

She stared at him for a moment. "Alright then."

James watched her go, her dark red hair swinging slightly as she walked, and felt his heart nearly sink through his stomach.

That night in the common room, Sirius showed up with his usual shit-eating grin. "I was hoping you'd yell or something! Make a scene!"

"I don't even want to talk to you," James snapped.

"Harsh!"

"For _drugging _the girl I love? For forcing me to reject her the only time she's ever going to ask me out?"

Sirius froze, his eyes fixed on James' face. "Dude, I didn't drug her."

"_What?" _

"I played it off, at breakfast. Made out like I was going to put it in." He fished in the pocket of his cloak and held out the little pink bottle, still full of love potion."

"I—I don't know why I should believe you."

Sirius shrugged. "It's up to you. I wouldn't want to if I were you either. Man." He chuckled. "Lily Evans asks you out and you fuck it up."

"You fucked it up!"

Sirius just laughed. "You love me."

James barely slept, tossing and turning the whole night. _How am I going to tell her? _The next morning, he had the miraculous good fortune to catch Lily in the corridors before breakfast. He tapped her cautiously on the shoulder and jumped back as she spun fiercely, glaring at him. "What do _you_ want?"

"Hey. Jeeze. I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for yesterday. I was, um. Confused."

"Damn right you were."

He took a deep breath. "Can I, um, can I have another chance?"

"Only if you explain why you were practically a different bloke yesterday."

"I can't."

She tossed her hair over her shoulder and made as if to turn away. "You'd better."

"Oh, fuck. Fine." He told her.

She stared at him for a moment and then burst out laughing, a high, sweet sound that made James's spine tingle. "Are you serious? You thought I drank a love potion? That your best friend gave me?"

"Well, it was pretty out of character for you!"

She laughed. "I kind of gave up on the whole arrogant toerag thing. Thought I'd give you a try. You're alright, I guess."

He put his hand to his chest. "Alright? You wound me, Evans!"

She placed her hand over his. "Good. Gotta keep you on your toes." In one smooth motion, she slipped under his arm and wrapped her own around his waist. "Walk me to breakfast."

He nodded wordlessly, thinking only of whether to thank or murder Sirius.


End file.
